What if Willow had done a spell to make Buffy forget she had been in heaven?

[LifeIsJustThis]

A thought occured to me today when I was re-watching “Tabula Rasa”.

During the opening credits, when Anya, Xander, Willow and Tara are talking about how bad they feel about bringing Buffy back, now that they’ve found out she was in heaven, Willow says that she knows a spell that would make Buffy forget about being in heaven, but Tara quickly extinquishes that idea.

My question is:
What would have happened if they had done that spell? Surely, Buffy would be happier and very different. Would the whole thing with Spike never had happened?

Has anyone else thought about this before? What do you all think?

[willow23]

I think, in terms of the show's merit, it would have been somewhat disastrous. They really wouldn't have "earned it," you know, bringing her back. There would have been less impact in her death and her resurrection. I don't think it would have been good for the show, though it might have been for Buffy herself.

[OldSwede]

I think, in terms of the show's merit, it would have been somewhat disastrous. They really wouldn't have "earned it," you know, bringing her back. There would have been less impact in her death and her resurrection. I don't think it would have been good for the show, though it might have been for Buffy herself.

Yes, I think you are right about that. And it does make sense in terms of characters as well, since Tara would really have tried to put stop to an idea like that.

[littlewilly]

It wouldve been interesting, but i would have ended up hating Willow if she done that. She messes with magic too much. I hated when she done the mind alteration spells on Tara, and started using spells to make life easier and better for herself.

[Cangel]

I don't think it would've worked. Somehow Buffy would have realized what happened at one point and then everything would've fallen apart. Now that I think about it, that would have made quite a storyline.
And Spike wise, the time for her to start sleeping with him would have arrived shortly after she had figured out her friends put a spell on her. And while we're on the topic of Spike, maybe he even would've been the one to lead Buffy to the truth. Sure, he probably wants her to be happy, but if happy means living a lie he might've gotten bad conscious over everything and just revealed the truth to Buffy.

[Blondie Bear]

Didn't she? Wasn't that the whole point of the Tabula Rasa spell? Willow wanted Tara to forget about their fights and that she thought Willow was doing too much magic. She wanted Buffy to forget she'd been in Heaven. But she was careless, and ended up making everyone forget everything.

[littlewilly]

I think the Tabula Rasa spell was to make Tara forget about the OMWF spell(which was to cover up their fight)

[Blondie Bear]

WILLOW: For Buffy and Tara, this I char. Let Lethe's Bramble do its chore. Purge their minds of memories grim, of pains from recent slights and sins. When the fire goes out, when the crystal turns black, the spell will be cast. Tabula rasa, tabula rasa, tabula rasa.


She cast the spell on both Buffy and Tara. Considering she'd been talking about making Buffy forget Heaven, it seems reasonable that that's why she did it.

[Lindsey McDonald]

Yeah, that's what the Tabula Rasa spell was about. She only mentions Buffy and Tara in the spell, but it's obviously targeted at the whole group, cause look what happened when Dawn remembered about Tara and Willow's argument.

[LifeIsJustThis]

She cast the spell on both Buffy and Tara. Considering she'd been talking about making Buffy forget Heaven, it seems reasonable that that's why she did it.

If this is true, this makes me think of Willow much differently. I wasn't aware the spell was for Buffy AND Tara. So, she (Willow) pretty much discounted what Tara said and did the speel anyway? Hmm. Interesting.

[Blondie Bear]

Yeah, that's what the Tabula Rasa spell was about. She only mentions Buffy and Tara in the spell, but it's obviously targeted at the whole group, cause look what happened when Dawn remembered about Tara and Willow's argument.

I don't think it was targeted at the whole group. Willow's carelessness caused them to be affected, but I don't think she meant for it to happen.

[The Kinslayer]

I wasn't aware the spell was for Buffy AND Tara. .

For Buffy and Tara, this I char.
Let Lethe´s Bramle do it´s chore.
Purge their minds of memories grim
of pains from recent slights and sins.

Then the fire goes out, when the crystal turns black, the spell will be cast.

Tabula rasa. Tabula rasa. Tabula rasa.

[Lindsey McDonald]

I don't think it was targeted at the whole group. Willow's carelessness caused them to be affected, but I don't think she meant for it to happen.

Just because the spell was for the "benefit" of Tara and Buffy doesn't mean that it wasn't targeted at the group. She knew that Tara had found out about the last one, and must have assumed someone mentioned the argument. Even if she didn't make that link, Buffy just made this big announcement about being in heaven. Giles and Dawn were bound to talk to her about it. That would completely mess up the point of the spell. Also, why would the spell arbitrarily focus on the people it did? The Scoobies, I get, because they are close to Willow, on her mind, yadda yadda yadda. But Spike? The spell only targets those who were in the room when Buffy sang about Heaven. That makes me think Willow targeted it. Including herself. The abundance of Lethe's bramble burned was huge compared to when it was used on Tara, so if it affected the target, then I'm sure more than the Scoobies + Spike would have been affected. That makes me think the only thing the bramble did was increase the amount of memories that reverted to tabula rasa.


Well, that was long-winded and pointless!

[hyperballadbrad]

Hmmm Tara was right... it would have made things easier for Buffy to forget all together.... but it still wouldnt change the fact that Buffy had gone through that ordeal! Things always come back to bite you in the bum if you cover them up! Just like things in life.

It would have been wrong of the Scoobs to force something that wasn't real on Buffy. I mean, they did enough ripping her from heaven!

[angelchick182]

I actually think that pretty much the same events would've taken place - just postponed. I think Willow's main intention for the spell was to wipe Buffy's memory of Heaven and Tara's memory of the arguments, but it was probably also intended to wipe the rest of the gang's memories of these events as well(or what would be the point, really?). Her spell actually did work, but it just took too much - in the way of memories. So, I think had the spell gone as intended - you'd basically have "Tabula Rasa" stretched out over a few eps(minus the total lack of memory, identity, etc.), and once the truth was revealed - I think what followed that season may have resumed, more or less, as it did.

If you ask me, there should've been some major intervention for Willow when she even suggested the idea. She got really out of control in the middle of the season, but there were signs very early on, even before this.

[KhaoticLove]

Would have been cool to see what happened, but I dont think I could stand Willow if she did that, Id probably hate her. I mean everything happens for a reason. Was a pretty funny episode, Randy as spike hehe. But I still think Buffy wouldve ended up with spike because of attraction that was starting, and feelings growing.

[Lindsey McDonald]

Would have been cool to see what happened, but I dont think I could stand Willow if she did that, Id probably hate her. I mean everything happens for a reason.

But....but......but....she did!

[Blondie Bear]

I think people may be confused between the intent of the spell and the outcome of the spell. As far as I understand it, Willow intended to make Buffy (and possibly everyone else, though I'm not sure I'm convinced of that) forget about Heaven, and Tara forget about their fights. The outcome was that everyone forgot everything, and the spell was broken. So Willow did try to make Buffy forget that she was ever in Heaven, but it didn't work and didn't last past this one episode.

[ILLYRIAN]

Another way of looking at it is, Buffy 'thought' she was in heaven.
So if Willow did a spell to stop Buffy's memories that she was in heaven, and she wasn't there anyway, then Willow's spell couldn't have worked.